Farm Feature
Millis
Apple Knoll Farm
Orchards, Land Preservation, and Eventing
by Mari Passananti
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Norfolk Hunt Club all have a long and happy history of running events on the Iorio family’s property. Adrienne is especially delighted and excited to host the Schooling Horse Trials Championships on the property this August. She says the week-
Laura Solod
ess than an hour from downtown Boston, world-class event rider and trainer Adrienne Iorio stands in the large, airy barn she designed and built at Apple Knoll Farm, Millis. Horses large and small stick their heads over stall guards and knicker as she gazes out on green pastures flanked by woods. Riders can gallop, or stroll, over eight miles in Apple Knoll’s woods, which are crisscrossed with trails and cross-country obstacles of all sizes — a rare delight east of Route 495. “I spent hours walking the land and trying to picture how to make it best for the horses, truly ‘horse centered,’” Adrienne says. The barn features large box stalls with big windows, high ceilings, and a lovely cross breeze. The horses look out on a courtyard in the back and their grassy pastures down the hill. “It’s extremely important that they get to go outdoors every day and get to be horses” she says, “not pace in tiny paddocks.” “A key thing about the barn’s design is that the show grounds and indoor arena are separate, which keeps the horse-show noise and dust out of the barn,” says Betsy Maling, a manager at Apple Knoll for eight years. A lifelong horse lover, she’d given up riding when she had her kids, though she says she “never fully left” the barn. “I was a Pony Club mom with the Norfolk Hunt Pony Club for years, and one Mother’s Day the kids bought me a riding lesson.” Hiatus over: Betsy was back in the saddle. Now she rides almost every day — that is, “when we don’t have an event,” she says, laughing. Apple Knoll Farm hosts a busy calendar, from high-stakes trials to just-forfun hunter paces. Adrienne started putting on horse shows two decades ago, bucking the usual weekends-only formalities by hosting Wednesdayevening jumper shows, a tradition that continues this season. The farm regularly welcomes other groups to hire its facilities. The Charles River Dressage Association, the New England Miniature Horse Society, and the 16
August/September 2015
end should attract more than 150 participants. “Frankly, these days we need events to keep the farm intact,” she says. “We’d love to run even more, and host other groups, and though we’re an eventing barn, we’re always open to other disciplines. It’s fun to have different groups here.” Adrienne recounts the story of the farm’s purchase by her parents: Her mother, Dot Iorio, she says, hoped to find “a small farm, something just big enough to squeeze an indoor arena onto the property,” when an advertisement for 27 acres in Millis caught her eye. That parcel turned out to be part of a proposed subdivision. The Iorio family visited the farm and fell in love. Shortly after that first tour, they purchased the entire property that was to be subdivided — 250 acres of what was mainly apple orchards and included a farmhouse. They built stalls for up to 40 horses, as well as two dressage arenas, a large indoor arena, a jumper ring, and a cross-country course with obstacles to challenge all levels of horses and riders. Adrienne’s parents moved their family onto the farm; they continue to live there to this day. Over the years, Adrienne, along with two of her four
adult siblings, has made the farm home, building houses tucked away from the barn’s lines of sight. Adrienne was the daughter who, like her mother, always loved horses; she never dreamed of a career doing anything that didn’t involve them. Adrienne grew up in Pony Club, and after graduating from UMass Amherst, she taught countless little kids to ride, first in Holliston, then at Apple Knoll. Adrienne is tall and lean, with long legs and immaculate posture. A casual equestrienne observer might easily mistake her for a dressage rider — until she saw Adrienne’s blue eyes light up at the sight of a huge jump, preferably one constructed on a sweeping hill. “I was always drawn to eventing,” Adrienne says. “I found my niche bringing beginner and intermediate riders up through the levels, because back then, there wasn’t anyone doing that locally.” At the same time she was building her client base, Adrienne rose steadily through the ranks of the sport, successfully competing at the international four-star level until 2007, when a serious medical condition sidelined her temporarily. “Now I have a great niche teaching and bringing along young horses,” says Adrienne. “I look first and foremost for good hooves and good legs (soundness), but temperament is a close second factor, and then movement — the quality of the gaits. If you have a sound horse who’s a beautiful mover but lacks trainability, it’s pointless. I start careers for a variety of horses, for myself and for clients, at a variety of levels, and the variety makes it fun. “I’ve always got my eye out for the horse that could be my next Rolex horse,” she says, “even though I’m happy bringing along young horses and teaching. I love teaching kids crosscountry.” She points out a formidable log-and-stone obstacle: “I love the way young riders’ eyes boggle when they see the cross-country course for the first time,” she says. “Some of these riders have never left the ring. They come out